Retina Diagram Unlabeled – Layers and Cells to Print

All 21 parts on the diagram

Show the list

The layers 15

Rod A photoreceptor that works in dim light. Its outer segment is long and thin.
Cone A photoreceptor for daylight and color. Its outer segment is short and tapered.
Bipolar cell A cell that carries signals from rods and cones to ganglion cells.
Ganglion cell The output cell of the retina. Its long fiber runs to the optic nerve.
Horizontal cell A cell that links rods and cones sideways. Its arms run in the outer plexiform layer.
Amacrine cell A cell whose arms spread sideways in the inner plexiform layer. It links bipolar cells and ganglion cells.
Müller cell The glial cell of the retina, a support cell. It reaches through almost the whole thickness of the retina.
Pigmented layer (pigment epithelium) A single layer of pigmented cells behind the rods and cones.
Outer nuclear layer The layer of rod and cone cell bodies.
Outer plexiform layer A layer of synapses. Rods and cones meet bipolar and horizontal cells here.
Inner nuclear layer The layer of bipolar, horizontal and amacrine cell bodies.
Inner plexiform layer A layer of synapses. Bipolar cells meet ganglion and amacrine cells here.
Ganglion cell layer The layer of ganglion cell bodies.
Nerve fiber layer The fibers of the ganglion cells, running to the optic disc.
Direction of light Light crosses every layer before it reaches the rods and cones.

Back of the eye 6

Macula lutea An oval area at the center of the retina. The fovea lies in its middle.
Fovea A small pit at the macula's center. Cones are packed most densely here.
Optic disc Where the nerve fibers leave the eye. It has no rods or cones.
Central retinal artery The artery that runs in the optic nerve. It branches over the retina and feeds its inner layers.
Central retinal vein The vein that drains the retina. It runs through the center of the optic nerve, beside the artery.
Optic nerve The bundle of ganglion cell fibers that leaves the eye.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-10-01 in at least two of these. (1) Wikipedia, English edition, Retina and the articles on the Muller glia, the macula, the fovea, the optic disc and the central retinal artery and vein, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina. (2) Webvision, University of Utah, Simple Anatomy of the Retina, https://webvision.med.utah.edu/book/part-i-foundations/simple-anatomy-of-the-retina/. (3) Neuroscience Online, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, Section 2, Chapter 14, https://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/m/s2/chapter14.html. Detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

Twenty-one lines to write on. Fifteen are on the upper drawing, a slice of the retina with its pigmented cells along the top. Six are on the lower one, the back wall of the eye where the nerve leaves.

Read the full guide

Word bank for the unlabeled retina

Cells, seven: rod, cone, bipolar cell, ganglion cell, horizontal cell, amacrine cell, Müller cell. Layers, seven: pigmented layer, outer nuclear, outer plexiform, inner nuclear, inner plexiform, ganglion cell layer, nerve fiber layer. One arrow: direction of light. Back of the eye, six: macula lutea, fovea, optic disc, central retinal artery, central retinal vein, optic nerve.

Where the lines end

The seven tabs down the left edge are the layers. None stands beside the rods and cones, which are labeled as cells. Of the two lines from below, the left ends on the horizontal cell, flat and higher up; the right on the amacrine cell. On the nerve, the long line from above meets the artery and the line from below the vein.

On this sheet the outer layers are the upper ones, next to the rods and cones; the inner ones are nearer the arrows.
The tall thin cell is drawn twice, once at each side, and takes one name.

Questions and answers

Is the retina part of the brain?

It is brain tissue. In the embryo the retina and the optic nerve grow out of the developing brain, so the retina is counted as part of the central nervous system.

Why is the optic disc called the blind spot?

Because light that falls on it is not caught. The ganglion cell fibers lie at the front of the retina and cross through it to leave the eye, and where they cross there are no photoreceptors.

What does macula lutea mean?

Yellow spot. The name is Latin: macula means spot and lutea means yellow. A class may write macula alone. The pit in its middle, the fovea, has a line of its own.